Extension Pointers #1: A step-by-step guide to integrate Google Contacts using Sigma

Extension Pointers #1: A step-by-step guide to integrate Google Contacts using Sigma

Integrating and syncing data is a significant factor for effective customer relationship management.

Let's consider a scenario where an entrepreneur is planning on starting a new venture. An important factor in propelling any business towards success is a solid customer base. Maintaining important information about potential customers is also a critical element in managing a business effectively. In this post, we want to show you how to establish an integration that will manage data synchronization between different services efficiently.

Why integrate?

Integrating two services allows data to sync seamlessly between them. The Zoho Developer platform, Sigma, lets you build plug-in software extensions. Connector is a feature in Sigma that allows you to integrate with a third-party application through these extensions.

So let's say that an entrepreneur needs to sync Zoho CRM (client application) with Google Contacts (third-party application) and develops an extension using Sigma. Using the Connectors component, we can accomplish this integration between the applications. This integration will effectively sync contacts between the apps, providing consolidated customer information. This saves the entrepreneur's time and manual work. Below, we'll see the exact steps on how to establish a connection between these two services and export a contact from Zoho CRM to Google Contacts.

Topics covered:
➤ Creating a connection between Zoho CRM and a third-party application
➤ Registering with Google to obtain client credentials
➤ Adding a custom button and associating it with a custom function to perform an action

How to establish connections between services

To enable secure synchronization with a third-party application, certain authorization protocols must be followed. Zoho Developer provides two approaches for integrating services based on the type of user authentication supported by the third-party application:

1. If the third-party application that you want to integrate with Zoho CRM supports OAuth 2.0 protocol for user authentication, you can use connectors.
2. If the application you want to integrate with Zoho CRM only supports API key forms for user authentication, you can use custom variables.
In our scenario, lets see how to use connectors to create a secure connection with Google Contacts.

How to use connectors to establish a connection via OAuth 2.0

 You will need URLs for a request token, access token and refresh token along with a client ID and secret to complete the connection process.


1. Choose Connectors from the left panel of the Zoho CRM console under Utilities, and then click Create Connection.



2. Provide the required information in the respective fields.
  • Connector Name: A name for the connection to be established.
  • Name of the Service: The name of the third-party application.
  • Signup URL: The signup URL of the third-party application.
  • Request Token: The URL for sending an authorization request to the third-party application server from the client application.
  • Access Token: Once the request is authorized by the server, the access token is sent to the client. This token is exchanged every time the client needs to access the third-party application data.
  • Refresh Token: There are few access tokens that expire after a limited time. In that case, this URL should be used to request a different access token.
Note: The URLs for a request token, access token, and refresh token can be obtained from the API documentation of Google.

For your reference, the values used in our example are as follows: 

3. Click Save after providing the necessary details.



4. In order to obtain the Client ID and Client Secret, you must register with a web service (in our example, Google). If you need further instruction on how to obtain the Client ID and Client Secret, please take a look at the following section.
Note: The Redirect URL appearing in the Client Credentials dialog box is necessary to create the Client ID and Client Secret in the upcoming section.

5. Click Save after entering the Client ID and Client Secret to set the Client Credentials successfully.

6. Click Authorize Connector to Authorize the connection between the services. A connection is now successfully established between Zoho CRM and Google Contacts.

How to register with Google and obtain the Client ID and Client Secret?

1. Log into the Google API Console with your Gmail account credentials. Create a New Project.



2. Click ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES to manage the necessary APIs.



3. Search for the Contacts API, and click the ENABLE button to activate it.



4. Select the Credentials section present in the left panel, and click the CONFIGURE CONSENT SCREEN to fill in the application information.



5. Click Create after choosing either Internal or External depending on your target users.



6. Enter the Application name and the Authorized domain, and click Save.



7. Go back to the Credentials section, click CREATE CREDENTIALS, and choose OAuth client ID.



8. Provide the Application Name along with the Redirect URL that was listed on the CRM developer page during connector creation, and click Create.



9. The OAuth client credentials are now created and appear in a dialog box



10. Enter the unique Client ID and Client Secret obtained here in the Zoho CRM Client Credentials dialog box.

Add API calls and associate them with the connector

Upon authorizing the connection, the next step is to create a connector API that specifies how the components should interact. The steps to create connector APIs in the client application are:

1. Click Create Connector API. Enter the necessary details in the Create Connector API dialog box. In our example for adding a contact from Zoho CRM to Google:

Name of Connector API
PushContacts
Method Type
POST
URL

Request Body: 
  1. <atom:entry xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"

    xmlns:gContact="http://schemas.google.com/contact/2008"

    xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005">

    <atom:category scheme="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind"

    term="http://schemas.google.com/contact/2008#contact"></atom:category>

    <gd:name>

    <gd:givenName>${FirstName}</gd:givenName>

    <gd:familyName>${LastName}</gd:familyName>

    </gd:name>

    <atom:content type="text">Notes</atom:content>

    <gd:email rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#work"

    primary="true"

    address="${Email}" displayName="${FirstName}"></gd:email>

    <gd:phoneNumber rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#work"

    primary="true">

    ${Mobile} 

    </gd:phoneNumber>

    <gd:organization rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#work" primary="true">

    <gd:orgTitle>${Title}</gd:orgTitle>

    </gd:organization>

    </atom:entry>
2. Click Create to create the Connector API successfully.



3. Click Execute to set the token variables. 



4. Click Set & Execute, and observe the response code to check if the API works. 



5. Click Publish after successfully executing the API. 



Once published, the API needs to be associated with the extension. It appears under the Associated Connectors tab. Click Add to associate the connector GoogleSync with our extension CRMsyncGoogle.


Click View All APIs to check the Unique API Identifier.


Here, crmsyncgoogle.googlesync.pushcontacts is the Unique API Identifier. 


Exporting contacts to Google from Zoho CRM

After the successful execution of the API connector, the next step is to implement the desired function. There are multiple options to do this. In our example, let's create a button and associate it with a custom function to push a contact from Zoho CRM to Google Contacts upon clicking. 

Creating a "Push Contact to Google" custom button to perform the POST operation
Choose the Components section in the left panel of the extension console page. Select the Links & Buttons tab and click Create New Button.



Choose the Contacts tab, name the button, and choose the place where the button needs to be located. Select Writing Function as the action that will be performed by the button.



Write your custom function "pushcontact" to implement the "Push Contact to Google" button operation. This will allow you to push a contact from the Zoho CRM Contacts module to your Google Contacts.

pushcontact function Code Snippet:


cont_resp  zoho.crm.getRecordById("Contacts",contact.get("Contacts.ID").toLong());

Firstname = cont_resp.get("First_Name");

Lastname = cont_resp.get("Last_Name");

mail = cont_resp.get("Email");

mobile = cont_resp.get("Mobile");

title = cont_resp.get("Title");

map = {"FirstName":Firstname ,"LastName":Lastname ,"Email":mail ,"Mobile":mobile ,"Title":title }; 

response = zoho.crm.invokeConnector("crmsyncgoogle.googlesync.pushcontacts",map);

return "Contact Pushed";

How to check and test the functionality?

Click the Test your Extension button to check how your extension functions in the sandbox testing environment.


Under the Contacts module, in the testing environment, let's try and export "Customer2" to our Google Contacts. Click the Push Contact to Google button, and go to the Google Contacts to view your contact being added.


There are many different scenarios where connectors can be of use. In our example, we have seen how to add a contact from Zoho CRM to Google.
We recommend that you try using the connectors feature available in our developer platform to integrate with other third-party applications and reap the best benefits it has to offer.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

    Access your files securely from anywhere

          Zoho Developer Community




                                    Zoho Desk Resources

                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                    • Digest


                                    • Functions


                                    • Meetups


                                    • Kbase


                                    • Resources


                                    • Glossary


                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                    • MVP Corner


                                    • Word of the Day



                                        Zoho Marketing Automation


                                                Manage your brands on social media



                                                      Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                        Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                            Zoho Books Resources


                                                              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                    Qntrl Resources


                                                                      Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                          Zoho Campaigns Resources


                                                                            Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                            • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                              CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                            • Kaizen

                                                                              Kaizen

                                                                            • Functions

                                                                              Functions

                                                                            • Meetups

                                                                              Meetups

                                                                            • Kbase

                                                                              Kbase

                                                                            • Resources

                                                                              Resources

                                                                            • Digest

                                                                              Digest

                                                                            • CRM Marketplace

                                                                              CRM Marketplace

                                                                            • MVP Corner

                                                                              MVP Corner





                                                                                Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                Get Started Now


                                                                                  Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                    Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                    Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                      Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                        Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                            ご検討中の方





                                                                                                  • Recent Topics

                                                                                                  • Top Menu Disappeared from Blog Page

                                                                                                    Hi, Our top menu disappeared at Blog Posts page. However, it's still visible any other page on the website. I attached two screenshots, so it can be understood clearly. How can we bring back top menu? Thanks, K.
                                                                                                  • Managing Prepaid Hours for Consulting

                                                                                                    We are a consulting firm that bills clients a flat upfront annual fee plus an hourly rate and offer a discount for pre-paying a block of hours. Hours that surpass the pre-paid block are billed monthly at the normal rate. If there are any pre-paid hours remaining at the end of the project they are banked for future use. I'm not seeing a method of doing this in Projects/Books/CRM... thoughts?
                                                                                                  • ZOHO Widget SDK not loading in html

                                                                                                    I have this code below, I have imported the widgetsdk however I get the error shown in the image, I have tried many different ways of importing and initiating the function ZOHO but nothing is working. can someone explain what I'm doing wrong, if I am
                                                                                                  • Enhancements to Zoho Corp Help Center "Team Requests" View

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Team, I hope this message finds you well. The ability to view both my tickets and my team’s tickets in the Zoho Corp Help Center is a fantastic feature, especially as the focal point for Zoho in our organization. However, we’ve encountered a
                                                                                                  • Allow Multiple Scheduled Appointments with Zoho Support

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Team, I hope you're doing well. First, thank you for introducing the option to schedule support calls via the Zoho CRM booking link. This has been a fantastic enhancement, eliminating the need for back-and-forth coordination when scheduling
                                                                                                  • Projectwise budget ---

                                                                                                    Can we have a Project wise subject in addition to the Monthly, and quarterly ACCOUNT LEVEL budget?
                                                                                                  • WorkDrive API Documentation

                                                                                                    WorkDrive provides users and developers an extensive set of APIs to help integrate functionalities of Zoho WorkDrive with other Zoho applications and third-party tools. We have published the official WorkDrive API Documentation page for all external users.
                                                                                                  • Error 403: Forbidden When Updating Email Signature via API

                                                                                                    Hi Zoho Desk team, First, congratulations again on the excellent Zoho API. But, I’m encountering an issue while attempting to update an email signature via the API. Whenever I make a request to update the signature, the response returns an HTTP 403 Forbidden
                                                                                                  • Who can see draft replies on tickets?

                                                                                                    We have noticed that we are able to see draft replies made by other agents. Which settings can limit this visibility? It makes sense to me that admins and the agent who created the draft would be able to see the draft, but no one else. How can we make
                                                                                                  • Serious question: Are there actually "solo-preneurs"/small business owners who made Zoho-one work well for them?

                                                                                                    L.S. After already many years of continued struggle with Zoho-One, I am seriously wondering if there are actually solo-preneurs (one person small business owners - without a large, dedicated IT dept.) who got it (Zoho-One) to work well for their businesses.
                                                                                                  • Major iOS issues when accessing forms via the browser

                                                                                                    Hi, We have been using forms for some time, while the office staff are accessing the forms via the app on Android mobiles, we have a fleet of sub contractors that we would not like them having access to the main app as some of the forms are confidential
                                                                                                  • All notes disappeared

                                                                                                    I've been using the notebook app for over five years on my phone without being logged into an account. A few days ago I opened the app and all my notes had disappeared. Since then I tried restarting my phone, updating the app and logging into my account,
                                                                                                  • How to Iterate a Function in Zoho Desk Workflow with Delay Between Calls?

                                                                                                    Hi everyone, I’m working on a function in Zoho Desk that searches for a specific ticket record. If the ticket is not found, I need to retry the search multiple times with a delay between each attempt until the ticket is located or a maximum number of
                                                                                                  • How to Iterate a Function in Zoho Desk Workflow with Delay Between Calls?

                                                                                                    Hi everyone, I’m working on a function in Zoho Desk that searches for a specific ticket record. If the ticket is not found, I need to retry the search multiple times with a delay between each attempt until the ticket is located or a maximum number of
                                                                                                  • Work Orders / Bundle Requests

                                                                                                    Zoho Inventory needs a work order / bundle request system. This record would be analogous to a purchase order in the purchasing workflow or a sales order in the sales cycle. It would be non-journaling, but it would reserve the appropriate inventory of
                                                                                                  • Zoho Books API Limit Is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                                                    The 2,500 API call limit in Zoho Books is about as useful as AOL dialup.  Seriously Zoho, not only can I use up 2,500 API calls in no time with my own app but YOUR OWN STUPID IPAD APP blows through them super fast too, so if any one of my clients wants
                                                                                                  • QR codes in templates

                                                                                                    I'm excited about the new QR code generator. I have included a QR code that contains the record ID setting "${ID}" as input data. In the report detail it works perfectly but when printing it in a template the code is not shown.
                                                                                                  • Button Display Conditions

                                                                                                    Hi Guys, Is it at all possible to have extra button conditions? Context: We have data in our deals module which has a custom button which converts the deal into contacts + set up relationships between them. At the end of the conversion we set a field
                                                                                                  • Knowledge base: The nitty-gritty of SEO tags

                                                                                                    A well-optimized knowledge base with great SEO can benefit your company by allowing customers to find help articles and support resources using search engines. This enables customers to quickly and efficiently find the information they need without direct
                                                                                                  • Social Media Simplified with Zoho Social: Make the best out of the publishing calendar

                                                                                                    Are you a marketer who likes visualizing your plan of action before you start social media posting? Are you part of a team that works on social media on a rotational basis, so the most important task is to collaborate to avoid overlap and confusion? Or
                                                                                                  • Custom function daily limit and procedural programming

                                                                                                    Dearest Zoho Today, support confirmed that if I call a custom function from another custom function then I will use up two, with regards to my daily limit. A few times, we have blown our daily limit and that means that ordinary business processes don't run for the rest of the day. I have to mop these up the following day and there is no guarantee that I will get it right. Therefore, I can't afford to waste any. Procedural programming has been around for over 50 years now and it greatly simplifies
                                                                                                  • Unified customer portal login

                                                                                                    As I'm a Zoho One subscriber I can provide my customers with portal access to many of the Zoho apps. However, the customer must have a separate login for each app, which may be difficult for them to manage and frustrating as all they understand is that
                                                                                                  • Welcome Link Expired

                                                                                                    Hi The links sent to the users didn't get clicked on in time and now all the links have expired. Is there a way to send a new link without deleting them and re-adding them>
                                                                                                  • New enhancements: Changing portal users' email addresses and new customization options for templates

                                                                                                    Dear All, Portals have enabled organizations to extend access to various CRM modules to their customers, vendors, partners, and end users, per their business requirements. When a portal is created, an invitation email is sent to portal users with a link
                                                                                                  • Granular Time Frame Settings for Message Deletion and Editing in Zoho Cliq

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Team, I hope you're doing well. Currently, the settings for message deletion and editing in Zoho Cliq are configured globally under: Admin Panel > Organisation > Configurations > Conversations Delete messages: Time frame to allow message deletion
                                                                                                  • New Built In QR/Barcode Generator Print Settings

                                                                                                    I'm trying out the new QR/Barcode generator field in Creator. I would think most people will want to print these, like I do. I am not seeing any way to control the height or width of the barcode for printing (inside the print/pdf template builder). The
                                                                                                  • Zoho One. Client Script

                                                                                                    Hi, I would like to know if the Client Script feature is available in Zoho One. If it's, how can I enable it?
                                                                                                  • Calendar View for Zoho Tickets

                                                                                                    Is there a way to view your tickets with due dates on a calendar view? I can not find a way to merge my Zoho Calendar and Tickets. This would be extremely helpful to my team.
                                                                                                  • Delete / Modify Default Career Site - Zoho Recruit

                                                                                                    Hello, It would be very useful if we could delete a default career site or change which of our career site is the default. Our Career site was created when there were issues with Zoho Recruit creating English CTA buttons on French Career sites. The only
                                                                                                  • Workflows for Timesheet

                                                                                                    Good day, Any way to have timesheet as triggers? I looked into Zoho Flow and into Zoho Project automation but no where can I have timesheet as a trigger. Basically, I would like to trigger something upon timesheet approval. Right now, the only way to
                                                                                                  • Is it possible to hide Developer Space for all user in Zoho Projects

                                                                                                    Hello! I am Zoho admin in a company and we want to use Zoho Project to manage projects, but after a few days of testing we are not able to "hide" the Developer Space from all kind of users except the admin. To sum up, I want to hide this for all users.
                                                                                                  • Introducing automation and utility conversations in WhatsApp marketing

                                                                                                    We’re excited to announce the addition of two new features to our WhatsApp integration: Automation and Utility conversations. These enhancements will allow you to streamline your marketing efforts and engage with your customers more effectively by automating
                                                                                                  • Extracting data from cells in zoho sheets for zoho books

                                                                                                    I am currently uploading my bank statment in excel format to zoho workdrive. I would like flow to extract certain data and send it to zoho books. Would scripting in zoho flow be able to help me with this? By this I mean should I attempt this in zoho flow
                                                                                                  • Within the Basic KPI component in Analytics, it is impossible to set "next" day range as a filter

                                                                                                    Hi there, I am currently setting up a deal dashboard for the Sales team. While it is possible to filter deal records to show records that were created LAST X days only, it looks like a NEXT X days Closing date filter is not available. Would it be possible
                                                                                                  • Pulling Specific Products from Sales Orders in Books to a CRM Record

                                                                                                    We currently process orders directly through our website (woocommerce) as well as through manual sales orders in zoho books. When an order comes through the website, all of the individual products from that order show up in the CRM record of that customer.
                                                                                                  • Você já viu os cursos do Zoho Mind?

                                                                                                    Pessoal, Tem uma plataforma da Zoho chamada Zoho Mind, muito interessante os cursos e vídeos tutoriais que lá possui. Para a turma do Zoho Creator, tem uma dica de Buscar dados em Formulário, segue o link e clique em Zoho Creator. https://www.zohomind.com.br/#/videostutoriais
                                                                                                  • Como gerar gatilhos para pagamento de impostos no Zoho Books?

                                                                                                    Olá Pessoal, boa tarde! Gostaria de saber como vocês estão escriturando os impostos a pagar no Zoho Books. Vi que temos a opção de Bills, porém se eu escriturar nesta aba do Zoho Books para gerar lembretes de tempo de vencimento por exemplo vai refletir
                                                                                                  • Subform Time field to string.

                                                                                                    Good afternoon All. I have a Subform 'Delivery_Receiving_Hours' that captures Day (Dropdown), Time_Open (Time), and Time_Close (Time). I need to capture this data and send it to a multiline field in the CRM. The code, posted below, below will capture
                                                                                                  • workflow for bounced email gets triggered, but email is status = opened

                                                                                                    Hello, I have a workflow that sends me an email if outgoing email are bounced. Now I got some kind of this emails, but the corrosponding contacts have status = open at the email. Why this bounce-workflow is triggered? Reports > Email Reports > Bounce
                                                                                                  • Data export

                                                                                                    I need to export our customer's data and projects' data for our purpose but am unable to export full data i only get around 3160 projects and around 2k customer can you please help me to get full data, please
                                                                                                  • Next Page